Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Day Two, Atlantic City

I actually did not sleep that badly, from 10 to 1:30, then until nearly 6 a.m. Shortly after 8 Lucas joined us and we went to the buffet breakfast in the hotel. Not cheap, but excellent. The sausage patties and bacon were particularly good.

We then passed Guy Fieri’s Chop House, where we decided we will splurge and eat tonight. Walked through the casino and through a gift shop, with a very friendly, chatty saleswoman.

Then we headed outside. Walked directly out on the beach, admired the ocean, shooed away the sea gulls, picked up some shells.

We headed north up the Boardwalk. Stopped at cheap shops to buy Lucas a pair of sunglasses and me a headband (windy here!). Walked a long way, looking at all the sites, the people, the stores, the buildings. The casino buildings are hard to believe – especially the Trump Taj Mahal. The contrasts are enomous: the fancy casinos, the cheap shops, the rich tourists, the people who sleep on the Boardwalk benches.....

Weather is gorgeous, warm but not hot, windy, brilliant blue sky. Took lots of photos.....

One thing we saw was the Atlantic City Cat Project. Various cats live under the boardwalk (cue the song....) and are neutered, fed and cared for. Lucas loved them all, of course.

We came back to the hotel for a short break. The rooms had not yet been done, so we had to take off again.This time we headed up to the outlet center. It is not a shopping center as such, but basically stores along a number of connecting streets. Our first stop was the Tommy Hilfiger store, where we certainly did our part to ensure their continued success......

From there we went to Starbucks and sat outside to drink coffee and rest our weary legs. As I said, the weather could really not have been better. Life is good, we all agreed, and we are very lucky.

Lucas and Norbert also scored at the Reeboks shoe store, and then we went to Rite-Aid for bottle water, fritos and Little Debby Brownies.Very much into healthy eating, aren’t we?

The rooms were still not done, so we headed down to the Johnny Rocket diner for a snack. The guys had soft drinks and I a chocolate milk shake, and we shared chili cheese fries. We sat outside, and it was windy, so we rather had to hold on to everything to keep it from blowing away. There were also a number of sea gulls and pigeons who expressed their interest, sometimes rather loudly, in sharing our meal. We enjoyed it all.

Now the room was finally done, and after a short rest, Norbert and I headed out again. We walked through several stores (bought nothing) and then through the Willd Wild West Casino (small and not nearly as well visited as the Bally Casino).

Lucas had made dinner reservations for us at 6, and we arrived at Guy Fieri’s Chophouse shortly before that. It was incredibly expensive but also incredibly good I had an 8 oz filet mignon, which was so very, very tender. The guys both had the prime rib, which was HUGE. Lucas couldn’t even finish his, and Norbert managed to eat all of his. They both said it was “melt-in-your-mouth” tender.
We all ordered sides, but needn’t have bothered.

I again opted out of any evening plans. The guys did another round of the casino, and came back having won two dollars. Lucas then headed to the Sports Bar to watch the football game.


No comments:

Post a Comment